On Friday Emily and I cooked for 50 at church.  Well, 50 people didn't show up, but I cooked for that many anyway.  It was for our First Friday dinner -- on the first of May. The UU Arlington church does an informal evening of dinner and then a service on a theme -- this month it was earth Day.  So, I went to MOM's Organic grocery in Alexandria to get the ingredients for potato/leek soup, home made pizza, and strawberry spinach salad.  It was nice to have Emily home as my assistant, but by the end of the evening we were both exhausted.  The most difficult part is figuring out how to delegate to the volunteers who "might" show up -- if they do, you want a good task for them, but if they don't, you might have to hurry to do it.  I did it because the person who usually does it was out of town -- and I'm glad I did, because if I were to be asked to take this on in any way, I'll know to say no!

All in all, I enjoyed the planning for the meal, but not the execution.  Everything turned out well, particularly the spinach salad -- a big hit.  Here's the recipe:

Strawberry Spinach Salad

1 tablespoon butter

3/4 cup slivered almonds

1 pound fresh spinach

1 cup sliced strawberries (can substitute dried cranberries)

2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1/2 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons minced onion

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Saute almonds in butter until lightly brown.  Remove from heat and cool.

Combine spinach, strawberries and almonds in salad bowl.

Mix the rest of the ingredients for dressing, and pour over salad.